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2021 ATP/WTA Thread


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Coronavirus officially follows tennis into the next calendar year:

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/delayed-australian-open-start-february-003242887.html

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The Australian Open was pushed back to February 8 on Thursday after weeks of negotiations as coronavirus disruption hits a second Grand Slam tennis season.

Men's qualifiers will be held in Doha but Australia will host a series of build-up events including the flagship ATP Cup, the men's ATP Tour said, announcing its early 2021 schedule.

The three-week delay to the season's opening Grand Slam comes after this year's Wimbledon was cancelled -- for the first time since World War II -- the French Open was postponed and the US Open was played behind closed doors.

Fans are expected to be allowed at Melbourne Park, the tournament's venue, as the coronavirus is under control in Australia, but players will need to undergo 14 days of quarantine.

Confirmation of the February 8-21 dates follows protracted talks between Tennis Australia and state authorities in Melbourne, which emerged from a months-long lockdown in October following a second wave of Covid-19.

Originally due to start on January 18, players will now arrive in Australia from January 15 to serve two weeks in a bio-secure bubble, many of them coming from countries where the pandemic is still raging.

Earlier reports said they would stay at designated hotels but would be allowed to practise and exercise for up to five hours a day, shuttled between their accommodation and Melbourne Park.

There was no immediate confirmation of the arrangements from Tennis Australia.

The ATP said men's qualifiers for the Grand Slam would be held from January 10-13 in Doha, before players and limited support staff travel to Australia.

A slimmed-down, 12-team ATP Cup, the relocated Adelaide International, and an ATP 250 tournament will all be held in Melbourne ahead of the Slam which is now scheduled from February 8-21.

There was no word on where the women will play their qualifiers, with the WTA yet to announce its early-season schedule. But WTA tournaments are also expected to be played in Melbourne before the Open.

 

 

 

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WTA’s early schedule is out. 

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The WTA has announced the schedule for the first seven weeks of the 2021 Tour calendar. The WTA has worked diligently with tournaments and players to provide as many job opportunities as possible while being mindful of increased travel restrictions and mandatory quarantine guidelines set forth by local governments. 

The season will kick off at the Abu Dhabi WTA Women’s Tennis Open, a WTA 500 level event, from January 5-13 at Zayed Sports City International Tennis Centre. H.E Aref Al Awani, General Secretary of Abu Dhabi Sports Council, said, “We are delighted to welcome to Abu Dhabi WTA’s 2021 kick-off event, the Abu Dhabi WTA Women’s Tennis Open. Abu Dhabi is a global capital of world sport and the presence of top tennis players from around the world at this time only strengthens that position and reinforces our esteemed reputation.”

The Australian Open qualifying will take place in Dubai from January 10-13, with both events then allowing for travel to Melbourne from one of Tennis Australia’s designated charter flight hubs of Dubai (in addition to Singapore and Los Angeles). 

Upon conclusion of those events, players and their respective support teams will travel to Australia where they will complete the mandatory two-week quarantine. Following the quarantine period, two WTA 500 tournaments will be held concurrently in Melbourne Park from January 31 - February 7. 

The 2021 Australian Open will then take place February 8-21 inclusive of singles, doubles and mixed doubles. 

A WTA 250 will be held the second week of the Australian Open, allowing athletes to remain in Melbourne, securing three weeks of competition.

Steve Simon, WTA Chairman and CEO, said, “We are excited to announce the first swing of tournaments representing the opening weeks of the 2021 WTA season, all of which will operate in an environment that puts health and safety at the forefront. We want to express our sincere appreciation for the cooperation between key tennis stakeholders and organizations, along with the local health authorities who have been vital in getting us to this point. The hard work will continue as we look further ahead into 2021 to ensure a safe and robust calendar.” 

Due to travel restrictions and the mandatory quarantine, WTA 250 tournaments in Auckland and Shenzhen will not be held in 2021 but are scheduled to return to the WTA Tour calendar in 2022. The WTA continues to closely monitor the evolving status of tournaments for the remainder of 2021 with an announcement in the coming weeks surrounding a more expansive calendar.

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On 12/17/2020 at 5:52 PM, perfectchaos007 said:

Did they move it back 3 weeks for Covid or to give Federer 3 more weeks to recover from his surgery? I think it’s the latter 

It is officially NOT the latter.

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Agent to AP: Federer to miss Australia; planning 2021 return

https://apnews.com/article/australia-australian-open-coronavirus-pandemic-tennis-roger-federer-3098d6c31058b6244a1e4f4270772ccb

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TC’s lineup starting now. 

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CENTRE COURT -- 10:00 a.m. start
Daria KASATKINA (RUS) vs. WANG Qiang (CHN)
Veronika KUDERMETOVA (RUS) vs. [10] Anett KONTAVEIT (EST)
[9] Maria SAKKARI (GRE) vs. Anastasia POTAPOVA (RUS)
Anastasia PAVLYUCHENKOVA (RUS) vs. [15] Ons JABEUR (TUN)
[16] Donna VEKIC (CRO) vs. Bernarda PERA (USA)
[17] Ekaterina ALEXANDROVA (RUS) vs. Zarina DIYAS (KAZ)

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Kenin playing Flipkens. 

I absolutely love saying “Flipkens”, but I am not pulling for her. 

Kenin looks like she has dropped even more fat from what she dropped during lockdown. My guess is that she now has a fitness “team”, or at least a dedicated trainer & nutritionist, that has been put in place by her marketing/management team. 
 

...and it looks like Camila is looking to go pro in something besides athletics. Her dad is looking to line his pockets by using her gifts. 

On 1/5/2021 at 11:51 AM, shadow_operative2.0 said:
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Flipkens comes down from an overhead back by a line judge and an advertising placard prevented her heel from going backwards, so her weight came down on her toe an her ankle buckled outwards and within 2 minutes or so, her ankle looked like this. She is definitely out. 

E2977CEE-9A87-440D-B7FD-1B25CA89B969.jpeg

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The trainers/medical group had to be called from wherever they hang out and 4 minutes on, ice arrives. 

She needed immediate pressure on the ankle and then ice within seconds to have any prayer of reducing swelling. 

She was playing pretty well too. She’s 34 and old people don’t heal quickly.  

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2 hours ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

21-year old Rooskie, ranked #292, first ever main draw, Anastasia Gasanova just fucking smoked Karolina Pliskova in straights. KP was only -1110. 

Never heard of her, but apparently she's bee on the tennis scene for a few years now.

https://www.tennisforum.com/threads/anastasia-gasanova.818921/page-6

Screen Shot 2021-01-09 at 5.41.06 AM.png

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9 minutes ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Sofia pulled a WTA on herself. 


I didn't watch, but it sounds like a typical WTA crater or an injury. Maybe both.

Sakkari is fit as a CrossFit athlete. I don't know if all of her muscles were obtained lawfully, but she's got them for days and must train like a demon. 

Screen Shot 2021-01-11 at 6.23.09 AM.png

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8 minutes ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

They don’t even have ball kids for the men's AO qualies in Doha. 

You'd think that there would be [...... read "inexpensive'] labor in Doha from people who "must have misplaced their passports" that would be willing to pick up some side coin by working the ball-person duy at the AO qualies. 

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2 hours ago, HoustonFrog said:

YouTube TV removed Tennis Channel so my tennis watching is going to mostly die. Very disappointed

That sucks. 

We had YouTube TV at the post-tornado rental my mom was put up in and then COVID hit. But having watched the pre-AO tournaments, I started following Virus vs Asian cities.

Anyway, they had the Tennis Channel and I watched an assload up until tennis stopped for COVID. AT&T TV apparently has the Tennis Channel so I'm still in bidniz (no longer in the replacement home).

Can you pay to add the Tennis Channel to your YouTube package price? 

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This is already a fucking disaster. 

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Three coronavirus cases have been detected among charter flights carrying tennis players, coaches and officials to Melbourne ahead of the Australian Open, health authorities and tournament organizers said Saturday.

A total of 47 players from the two affected flights -- arriving from Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi -- are now in a strictly enforced 14-day quarantine without the ability to leave their hotel rooms -- even to practice. The Australian Open is scheduled to start Feb. 8.

Health authorities said two positive COVID-19 cases emerged from a charter flight from Los Angeles, and later Saturday, Tennis Australia said there was a third positive case from a flight from Abu Dhabi.

The cases from Los Angeles involved an aircrew member and a passenger who was not a player. The third positive test -- also not a player -- was from a flight from Abu Dhabi in the past 24 hours, Tennis Australia said.

Authorities earlier said that all passengers from the Los Angeles flight would go into the 14-day hotel quarantine.

"An aircrew member and Australian Open participant who is not a player have been transferred to a health hotel following positive test results for coronavirus (COVID-19)," Victoria state's health department said in a statement about the Los Angeles flight.

"All remaining 66 passengers on the flight have been determined to be close contacts. Any players and support people will not be able to leave quarantine to attend training. The remaining flight crew all tested negative and were permitted to fly out without passengers directly to their home port."

Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley issued a statement saying the 24 players who were on that flight will not be able to leave their hotels rooms for 14 days and until they are medically cleared.

"We are communicating with everyone on this flight, and particularly the playing group whose conditions have now changed, to ensure their needs are being catered to as much as possible, and that they are fully appraised of the situation," Tiley said.

Later Saturday, Tennis Australia said 23 players were among the 64 people on the flight from Abu Dhabi.

"All passengers from the flight are already in quarantine hotels and the positive case, who is not a player and had tested negative before the flight, has been transferred to a health hotel," Tennis Australia said.

"The 23 players on the flight will not be able to leave their hotel room for 14 days and until they are medically cleared. They will not be eligible to practice."

Kei Nishikori, the 2014 US Open runner-up who tested negative for COVID-19 after having two positive tests, and two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka were reported by local media to be among a group of players who arrived on the flight from Los Angeles.

British player Heather Watson said on Twitter that she and others who arrived from Abu Dhabi "are NOT allowed out (of) our rooms." She posted the notification that she and others who were on the flight received informing them of the quarantine.

"The Chief Health Officer has reviewed the flight and has determined that everyone on board needs to isolate and will be confined to their rooms for the 14-day quarantine period," said the notification, which Watson posted.

"We are aware of the major impact this has on your preparation for the Australian summer," it continued, pledging "to do everything we can to mitigate this impact."

Being unable to leave their room would mean the only workouts they'd be able to have would be on an exercise bike left in the rooms of all of the players.

 

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